Saarbrucken (Germany), Oct 28 The focus will be on Malvika Bansod, the country's second-highest ranked player in women's singles when a young Indian contingent takes the courts in the BWF Super 300 event to be held in Germany from Tuesday.
A total of 11 Indian badminton players will be in action in the event with Malvika, ranked 35 in the BWF World Ranking, being the highest ranked among them.
In the absence of top Indian badminton players like two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, Paris Olympic Games semifinalist Lakshya Sen, Thomas Cup star HS Prannoy, and 2021 World Championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth, the Indian youngsters will hope to make the most of their chances at the badminton courts of the Saarlandhalle indoor arena.
In the women's singles, the focus will be on Bansod, who had reached the quarterfinals here last year, starting off against Bulgaria's Hristomira Popovska. If she wins her first-round match, the 23-year-old Malvika Bansod, seeded sixth in the event, will take on the winner of the match between Disha Gupta of the United States and Yvonne Li of Germany.
Rakshitha Sree Santhosh Ramraj, the other India in the women's singles draw, will start against Yu Chien Hui of Chinese Taipei in the bottom half of the draw. India have never won the title in women's singles in the Hylo Open.
In the men's singles, World No. 44 Sathish Kumar Karunakaran is the highest-ranked Indian with the seventh seed taking on compatriot Chirag Sen in the first round. The winner of this match will take on the winner of the match involving compatriot S Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian and Arnaud Merkle of France.
Tharun Mannepalli, the fourth Indian in the men's singles draw, will open his campaign against a qualifier with the winner of the match meeting the winner of Enogat Roy of France against Nhat Nguyen of Ireland. Ayush Shetty is the other Indian in the fray.
The young Indian pair of Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra will be in action in the women’s doubles while Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath will carry India's hopes in the mixed doubles.
Lakshya Sen, who missed the bronze medal in the Paris 2024 Olympics, was the last Indian to win a title at the Hylo Open, clinching the men’s singles crown in 2019 in what used to be a BWF Super 100 event back then. Subhankar Dey of India won the men’s crown the preceding year while Chetan Anand won it in 2008.
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